Strong Enough
by eepps96
Summary: Hinata realizes she needs to be stronger, not just for who she loves, but maybe for herself.
1. Chapter 1

This will actually be a multi-chapter story, so keep up with it! leave a review/favorite if you want an update!

She walked down the street, a bag of groceries in her left hand and her jacket draped over her right. She maneuvered through the crowds of people, trying to get home. Everyone seemed to be out lately, with the holiday festivals just around the corner. It wasn't quite snowing, but she could tell it would soon enough. She wanted to stop and put on her jacket, but she just couldn't find a place that would let her stop moving for the second that she needed. She could feel the cold air nip at her skin and silently cursed herself for taking it off while browsing in the store.

Finally she made her way in between two stalls and caught her breath. The cold air seemed to drain someone faster than anything else these days, not to mention she felt the atmosphere was particularly think where she was. She noticed the shop to her left was covered with a sign that said "open later", while the other was still open. She turned to the stall owner.

"Do you mind if I put my bag her while I put on my jacket?" she asked, gesturing to one of the crates stacked up to her waist.

"Sure sweetie, go ahead." The stall owner said as she opened a different crate to restock a variation of winter produce and flowers. She handled the, with care as she placed them on display.

"Thank you." Hinata replied as she sat her groceries down, careful to not bruise any of the vegetables she purchased to make ramen later tonight for her and Naruto. She unfolded jacket and fed her arms through it. She then put her hands around her neck and flipped her hair out from the fabric. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the stall owner staring at her. The stall owner gave her an awkward smile when she noticed.

"Sorry! You just look really familiar, but I can't put my finger on why." She explained, waving her hand in front of her face.

"Well… my name is Hinata, if it he-"She was interrupted by the owner's reply.

"You're Naruto's girl, aren't you? I see him walk around the village with you all the time!" She exclaimed, pointing a finger at her.

"Well, I wouldn't say his 'girl' per say, but yes, that's me!" She said in agreement, grabbing her groceries from the crate.

She suddenly felt something that was similar to a chill. She turned her head around to see if she could see something, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. She wanted to activate her byakugan to make sure, but she was interrupted by the stall owner.

"You okay, sweetie?" she asked.

Hinata whipped her head back around, facing the woman again.

"Yes! Perfectly fine, but unfortunately I do have to get ho-"

"Oh I can't let you leave yet, here… take these!" She scrambled together around the stall, and eventually had a group of flowers, and handed them to Hinata.

"Oh!" Hinata said while trying to balance them as the stall owner was shoving them in her arms. "What are these for?" Hinata asked, finally getting a grip of them.

"Well I can't let the hero of the war's girl go home empty handed from my shop, can I?" She said with a smile. "Don't worry sweetie, they're on the house." She said, folding her arms in front of her body.

Hinata stared for a second, not quite thinking of the words to say, and the stall owner just laughed.

"Go on and get home to your man, I bet he's waiting." She said with a wink, pointing her out through the backway behind Hinata. "Go that way and you won't have to fight this crowd."

"Oh! Uh… thank you so much!" Hinata said with a bow. "I'll make sure to come back another time!" Hinata said, backing up towards the direction she was told. The stall owner said something Hinata couldn't make out over the noise, but nonetheless she started to wave, so Hinata waved back before turning around completely.

"She was nice…" Hinata spoke to herself, admiring the flowers in her hand. They were really pretty. She wondered if Ino knew how she got them so pretty. She would stop by and ask if she wasn't trying to get home. She could see the sun dipping below the horizon line and knew it'd start snowing soon after that.

She continued down the path, walking between two buildings. The path was taking her in the right direction, so she was thankful for that.

"You know you don't deserve it."

Hinata stopped. Her body tensed as she turned around and saw someone standing there.

It was a girl. Her hair was short and dark, and her skin was even darker. Her features were sharp, with bright yellow eyes. She had a thin nose and wore a shirt cut straig across the top that exposed the protective undershirt of her midriff. She had a skirt with a slit to match the shirt, and boots that stopped right before her knees. Hinata could tell she just graduated from the academy, with her age and the headband on her arm.

"I'm sorry?" Hinata replied, completely facing the girl.

"I saw what happened with you and that stall lady. She gave you flowers." She said, taking steps towards Hinata. Hinata stood her ground, straightening her back.

"Yes, but what does th-"

"All because you're his pretty little girlfriend, huh?" She added, stopping her movements a few feet in front of Hinata.

Hinata mentally rolled her eyes. She hated girls like this. They were after Naruto because of his status, and they wanted her out of the picture. Most of the time they would just huff and roll their eyes, some even pretend she wasn't there and go up and talk to or even flirt with him anyway.

She hated girls like this.

"I have to get home." Hinata said, turning her body around to continue down the path.

"You're a Chunnin."

Hinata stopped.

"…and?" she replied, not turning back around.

"And he is leagues above you. I just passed to the final round of the winter Chunnin exams, and here you are, what, nineteen? Here in a few weeks we could be the same rank." She taunted, walking closer again.

"What does that matter?" Hinata turned her head back towards her, but her body kept moving forward.

"So that means me, just thirteen, would be the same as you. Why do you deserve him if you're so weak. Why, if I proved I was stronger than you, what would make him stay with a weakling like you."

Hinata didn't reply, but she clenched her fist.

"I heard you completely collapsed and got beat by your own family in the Chunnin exams your first try." She asked, standing to the side of Hinata, staring at her face.

"I didn't even break a sweat." She said, a smile ingrained in her face.

Hinata started to walk. And this time she didn't stop.

"Hope he still loves you when he realizes even I'm as strong as you." She yelled as Hinata continued walking.

She wanted to punch her. She wanted to disable her chakra points, she wanted to tape her mouth shut, and she wanted to fight her right then and there. But she knew it wouldn't do any good. It would just prove her point even more.

But still

No one had ever brought up her rank when comparing her to him. She didn't care she was a Chunnin. She liked her rank and was happy there. Missions were exciting, paid fine, and didn't have too much risk. After the war she even cut down on missions to help Naruto while he didn't have an arm, so there wasn't really any reason for her to move up anyway. She didn't even want to.

She knew Naruto loved her, she honestly did. He told her every day in every way. He was amazed by the small things that she did, and kissed her in the morning, evening, and night. She could picture him right now at home, tapping his feet and staring at the clock, waiting for her to return. Heck, they were going to be married in a few months anyway, that alone was enough proof for anyone who doubted.

But she still couldn't shake this feeling. What if she was dragging him down, what if she couldn't keep up with him. What if she couldn't be there for him when he was Hokage because her rank prohibited her from knowing information. There are so many other Chunnin in the world, why was she spe-

She shook her head.

She can't think like that, she isn't allowed to think like that, she knows he loves her.

' _That's the end of it.'_ she thought.

She dug out her key from her jacket pocket and unlocked the door. She swung it open just as snow was starting to fall and saw Naruto jump up from the couch as she closed the door.

"Hinata!" He yelled as he hopped over the couch to greet her. He grabbed the bag out of her hand and wrapped his arms around her. "I missed you!"

She could feel the muscles of his arm tighten around her. She felt his chest expand as he breathed heavily into the crook of her neck. His hands gripped at her sides as her arms wrapped around him.

She could feel all her worries disappear in this moment.

She moved away from his body so she could respond.

"I missed you too! For the hour I was gone anyway." She said mockingly. She grabbed the bag from his hand and walked in to the kitchen, him following close behind her.

"Hey, every minute without is the worst thing ever." He replied.

She put the bag on the counter and emptied its contents, including the flowers she was given, smiling at his response.

"Would you mind grabbing the pot from above the stove for me?" She asked, walking to the fridge to get the pork out.

"Sure!" He said, opening the cabinet and getting it with ease, something she would have to strain to do because of her height.

"Oh, I have to leave tomorrow afternoon for a mission. I just got assigned it today" He said, filling the pot with some water without her having to ask. She placed the pork on the cutting board and began to slice of pieces to add to the broth.

"Oh really? What is it?" She asked, her eyes not leaving the job she had before her.

"Well, I'm not supposed to tell you… it's a secret, Kakashi-sensei said so."

Her hands stopped moving for a full two seconds before she continued slicing, but slower.

"Ah, I see…" she said, moving on to grab some of the bean sprouts she had bought earlier. Naruto walked over to her as she continued chopping them in to smaller bits.

"Where'd you get these?" He asked, picking up the flowers that were on the counter. Hinata stared at them with an emotion she couldn't quite describe before she realized she hadn't responded.

"Those? Some shopkeeper gave them to me. They recognized me as 'Naruto's girl', so she gave them to me." Hinata said, focusing back on the sprouts.

"That's nice of her, should we put them in a vase?" He asked, opening the cabinet under the sink to find one. Hinata didn't know why, but she stopped him.

"Don't worry about it. I'll do it later. Why don't you go upstairs and get ready for your mission. I'm sure you have plenty of things to pack, right?" She said, a smile on her face.

But that couldn't fool him.

He stood up straight, eyebrows furrowed at her. He placed the flowers on the counter and slowly walked over to her. She had turned around to scrape the sprouts into the pot from the cutting board, he put his arms on either side of her body, grabbing hold of the counter.

"Hinata. What's wrong?"

She stopped scraping the board and slumped her shoulders for half a second, before turning around and kissing his cheek.

"Nothing is wrong, I just think you need to be prepared for whatever journey you have to go on tomorrow." She said sweetly, nudging her way under him so she could wash off her cutting board. Naruto stared at her as she walked by, and he could sense something still wasn't right.

"Are you sure? I can turn down the mission, ya know? I don't have to go if something is bothering you. If there's something I did, then let me kn-" He was interrupted by a slight laugh from her.

"Naruto, nothing is wrong, trust me!" She lightheartedly said, going to the spice cabinet to grab a few of them.

Naruto stared at her for a few seconds before deciding it would be best not to pry.

"Well, okay… I'll be upstairs if you need me." He said, kissing the side of her head as he walked out of the kitchen.

"I'll call you when dinner is ready." She spoke, turning the stove on.

She waited until she heard their bedroom door open before moving again. Once the familiar creek sounded through the house, she quickly turned around and stared at the flowers sitting on the edge of the sink.

She didn't know what emotion it was that those flowers made her feel, but she hated them. She felt like they were nothing but trouble. What did she do to get those? Nothing, is what she felt. She walked over to them and picked them up in her hands, looking at the petals and the leaves.

And then threw them in the trash.


	2. Chapter 2

Ooohboy its chapter two! Its short only because the next chapter is the Climax, so to speak. The entire thing is only going to be about… 4 chapters total? Yeah that sounds about right. But leave a review or follow for the updates!

She wakes up to an empty bed as she stretches her body out. The loud plop of her arm across where his chest would normally be is what made her aware of his absence. She slowly opened her eyes, not wanting it to be true that he was gone. As her eyes peeled open and her vision focused, taking slightly longer than usual, her suspicions were confirmed. She huffed.

"I thought he said he wasn't leaving until the afternoon…" she grumbled, sitting up in bed. She twisted her back to pop it when she noted a note on her bedside table.

This chicken scratch handwriting was something she had learned to read quite fluently over time.

" _My 'Nata,_

 _I woke up earlier than you, and I just kept staring at you. You looked so calm and peaceful that I thought 'If I stay here another minute I won't want to go on this mission!" so I decided to leave early. Sorry I didn't tell you goodbye, but I did give you a kiss, I promise! Plus, since I left earlier, I should be back earlier too! Hopefully within a few days._

 _Love you a whole lot!_

 _-Naruto"_

She always liked that he remembered to give her a kiss before he ever left, even if she was asleep.

She rolled out of bed and slid her feet in to her house shoes. The house always seemed to be colder in the mornings. She rose and opened up the curtains to their bedroom, looking at the sky.

"I thought they said it would snow today." Hinata said, staring at the clear, sunny sky.

She shrugged it off and headed to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and continued with her morning routine. Took a shower, washed some laundry, swept, organized a few boxes of stuff from them moving in together (more of it was hers than his) and ate the leftovers from dinner for lunch.

In fact, it was when she was eating lunch she noticed something. She walked past the trash can and didn't see the flowers from last night in there. She did a double-take just to make sure that she wasn't imagining it, but sure enough, they weren't there. Looking around, she noted that they were in a vase next to the sink.

"But I…" she started, walking towards them. She noted this vase was one of Naruto's favorites that they had. She thought that he probably moved them from the trash in to the vase this morning, thinking she probably threw them away on accident.

She grabbed them out of the container and held them in her hands. She mentally thought that she should have thrown away other things on top of the flowers, just in case something like this happened. But nonetheless, she walked them back over to the trash. The smell from the flowers was strong enough that she didn't even have to hold them up to her face to smell them. They were by her side and it was plenty enough. She gave them one last look before putting them back in the trash like they were before.

She left the house, strolling down the street with a mission in mind. She made the most direct route to the Hokage mansion.

All she wanted was one mission, a solo mission. She hadn't been on one in what seemed like years, and taking one on while Naruto was away would be something to keep her busy, and also be a breath of fresh air. Konoha was feeling a bit too cramped nowadays, and she could use a change, if only for a day.

She stopped whenever people greeted her, and made slight conversation to those she knew. The shops were bright and there were now a few clouds in the sky, comparing it to earlier in the morning. She grasped her jacket sleeve tighter as the wind picked up, blowing in a cold breeze.

She hesitated knocking on the door. She stood there contemplating if this is what she wanted.

She shook her head, of course it was.

She zipped up her mission shirt, looking in the mirror. The last time she wore her mission gear was a month ago, and before that, she honestly couldn't say. She even had to go and buy more kunai only having a few.

Of course, the mission she was going on didn't really require many kunai, probably none at all. She was assigned to deliver a birthday present to the grandson of a villager in a nearby town. The town itself way a day round trip, not including sleep. It was exactly what she needed, something not too far away from the village, but still far enough to get a break from it all. She felt like a break from being cramped in such a busy village would be good. She just needed to stop by the woman's house and pick up the present. Which is what she left to do.

It had started raining by the time she had left the Hokage mansion and when she got home to prepare. She made sure to grab a collapsible umbrella on her way out.

She knocked on the door and waited a minute for the woman to answer. The house wasn't too fancy and a little far out of town, but it was still nice. The door was made of what seemed to be just unpolished wood, a hint towards how old the house actually was.

The door opened slowly, but the warm air leaked from the house as it creaked open. An old lady appeared in the doorway, hair grey, long, and pulled back. She looked up at Hinata in question.

"Who are you?" She asked in curiosity.

"My name is Hinata Hyuuga, and I accepted your delivery mission." She stated with a bow.

"Ooooh yes! How could I forget! The 6th even sent someone telling me you'd be by later today to pick it up!" She said, shaking her hands in the air. "Come in out of the rain and let me grab it for you!"

She left the door open and Hinata followed in behind her, smelling the warm apple smell of the house. There where shelves with jars and pictures everywhere. The furniture didn't match and the roofs were low. Hinata thought it fit the old woman nicely.

"Alright, here you go. It's just a simple toy and a few sweaters for the boy, with the weather being so cold outside." She said, handing the present to Hinata.

"I'll make sure it is delivered safe and sound, I promise!" Hinata assured, taking the present.

"Well you are Hyuuga; I have the upmost confidence it will." She said with a smile.


	3. Chapter 3

He looked around, examining his environments. It was around 3 am, and the snow was coming down heavy. To any normal person you could only see a small clearing buried and hidden away by the trees that surrounds it, if you could even see at all. But if you looked hard enough, you could see that one of the trees was hollow. Hollow and fake, the result of a jutsu. That tree then leads underground to a series of tunnels and corridors, with rooms spread out, around twenty in total.

He was assigned to this mission to find this hideout and get rid of all the thieves and rogues that were there. They had been terrorizing the nearby village for weeks until they sent in a request for someone to take care of them. He couldn't tell anyone that there was a band of rogues this close to Konoha, though. Kakashi didn't want uproar to break out from people being scared about who their next victim would be.

Right now he was standing at the entrance of the base, the tree opening right above him. Snow was slowly building up behind him as he examined the base, completely still. His eyes were closed as he tried to pick up on any living chakra down here, but couldn't.

"Not even a trace of anyone…" he spoke quietly. He bent down and felt the ground. It had a thin layer of dust on it. ' _Well, either no one ever cleaned, or they've been gone for about a week, I'd say_.' He noted mentally.

' _For now, l guess I'll just go back and report to the village and tell them what I found.'_

He made his way back the village, only a few kilometer sprints from where he was. He took this time to develop what his plan of action was going to be. He would report to the village that hired him, but then what? Try to find them based off information he could gather? Or head back to the village and report to Kakashi. If He went as fast as he could, he could be back in a few hours. Maybe if he reported to Kakashi, he'd let him go home and the mission would be done.

Yeah, then he could see Hinata.

"Thank you so much! Tell my grandma I said thank you too!" The little boy, not older than seven, told Hinata as she left in the morning. The snow had started coming down hard that night as she arrived at the village, so the family decided to open up their home to her for the night, so she wouldn't have to stay at an Inn.

Hinata opened the door to the house to head outside. It was only around ten in the morning, but the sky made it seem like six, with how dark it was.

"You don't need to say thank you so much, you did let me stay with you, right?" She said as she ruffled the boy's hair. He smiled at her while his mother walked up beside him.

"Why don't you go play, and I'll see our guest out?" His mother suggested, and the boy nodded excitedly as he ran to play with the new train his grandmother gave him.

"I can't thank you enough for bringing his birthday present out to him, it really means a lot. I know he wouldn't be able to make the trip on foot to Konoha, and I don't think I could either!" She laughed, stretching out her back. "So thank you, really."

"Trust me, it was no problem!" Hinata said with a bow. "But I do have to head home."

"Of course dear, stay warm!" She said as her hand waved goodbye to Hinata, and Hinata waved back.

If Hinata hurried, she could be back in the village by this evening, and Naruto should be home tomorrow, with any luck.

She was glad that she invested in a black under layer for her mission gear for the winter. It kept her body warmer, so she didn't have to use chakra trying to do it herself. She jumped in to the trees and started to make her way back. She didn't have to be as careful coming back, and could move faster without damaging the delivery.

' _If I hurry, I can be back by the evening.'_ She thought as he continued through the trees, back south towards Konoha. She was glad she had taken the mission. She felt refreshed and rejuvenated, haven't having a good workout like this in a long time. The snow made everything look pretty, and it was only falling lightly now, making it much easier to see.

But she notices something on the ground, a few kilometers out from the village.

She stopped her movements in the trees to crouch down and look at the ground. She tried to make out what it looked like, but the snow was such a mess, it was hard to tell.

That's what caught her attention in the first place, how the snow was completely in chaos in this one area, like there was a fight, or someone tried to cover up something.

' _What in the… that isn't right…_?' She thought as she straightened back up, decided it was better to leave it before she got caught up in something she didn't want to.

Her back hit against something.

She immediately jumped away to a different tree, looking back at where she was standing. There was a man behind her, surely taller than six feet. Here hair was straight and short, but his eyes were like daggers. The smile on his face made her feel uneasy.

"And here I thought we had covered the last of our tracks." The man said, slowly walking from limb to limb to get to where she was standing. Hinata held her hands out in front of her.

"My my, we have us a feisty one, huh." He commented, reaching behind him.

Hinata moved her foot back, not breaking her vision from him.

At least that's what she planned on happening, but her foot hit something else. She turned around and noticed another man was behind her.

She activated her byakugan.

"All the villagers said that they hadn't heard or seen anything in over a week, some said that the group moved over to a different town, but had no idea which one it was." He stated with a sigh. "So I don't know what you want me to do now,"

"Well, for now we will wait until we hear anything again, I don't want to send you on a hunt for these people where we don't even know where they are. But for now, go on home and just stay alert. And don't tell anyone about it still. I don't want rumors starting that there's a band of thieves and killers working their way around the Land of Fire." Kakashi warned, and Naruto nodded. He didn't want to show it, but Naruto was quite pleased with Kakashi's answer.

"Trust me, I won't." He replied.

"For now, just head home and be on call if I hear anything." He ordered.

Naruto chuckled. "You don't have to tell me to head home." Naruto said with a chuckle as he turned around to leave.

"Oh, that reminds me. Hinata isn't here. "

Naruto stopped suddenly, his hand halfway towards reaching the doorknob.

"Like… missing?" He gulped as she turned back around. Kakashi laughed slightly at his worry.

"No, nothing like that, she asked for a mission to do while you were gone, so I gave her one. I just didn't expect you to be back so soon."

"Oh… what kind of mission?" He pried.

"Just a simple one. She's delivering a birthday present from one of our elderly villagers to her grandson a town to the north, called Hokubu, nothing major. She should be back tonight." He explained.

"Well, that should be fun for her… guess I'll just go now." He sighed as he left the room, his enthusiasm much less than it was before.

"I swear he's so attached to her, almost like a puppy."

The snow from the sky didn't seem to want to stop falling. Ever since yesterday afternoon it was just nonstop. The streets of the village seemed to be cleared a few hours ago, but the snow hadn't stopped since then. The buildings were just as bad with snow piled on top of them, and the edges of the road were just as bad. His ears only picked up on the soft crunch underneath his feet while the thoughts in his head were going.

' _She didn't tell me that she was going on a mission… I mean she doesn't have to tell me everything, but I figured that would be something she WOULD tell me. Maybe she just went on one for fun while I was gone, that's no big deal… but what if the village she went to was that group's next tar-'_

 **THUD**

Naruto didn't hit the ground, but definitely hit something that knocked him out of his state. He blinked a few times to clear his head and think about what just happened. It took him a moment to look at the girl who was getting off the ground.

"Oh! Sorry about that, I guess I need to look more where I'm going!" He joked as he helped her up. He vaguely recognized the girl, but couldn't say from where.

The girl seemed to recognize him though, because as soon as her eyes caught his face, they widened, and she gasped slightly. Naruto didn't know what from, but she eventually took his hand.

"N-no it's okay, as long as it was you that hit me, I-I don't mind." She said, tucking her short brown hair behind her ear. The girl was definitely younger than she was, and had sharp features, and a headband that showed her status as a leaf ninja.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" He asked, making sure she didn't lose anything on the ground at the same time.

"No, I'm fine! I'm actually… glad… that it was you." She confessed, her yellow eyes darting from him to her feet.

"Really? I don't think I've ever met you before, have I? Why are you glad it's me?" He asked, crossing his arms in confusion.

"Well, I… I wanted to ask you on a date…" She said shyly, kicking the ground a little, and Naruto couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

' _She has to be kidding!'_ he thought before politely declining her request.

"Sorry, but I'm already happily with someone else." He replied. "But I'd be happy to take you to a doctor to make sure you aren't hurt or anything!" he said, trying to still help the girl. I mean, it was his fault that she ran in to her.

"Are you sure? You wouldn't mind just one little date-" She started, almost leaning against him, but she was cut short when she stumbled from him moving out of the way.

"Trust me, I don't want a date." He stated, more firm this time than before. He tried to continue walking away from the girl, but she followed him despite his answer.

"It'll be just one little date, I promise!" She continued.

"No, I'm not doing that." He said sternly, not looking at her.

"I'm sure you'll enjoy it!" she said, grabbing his arm to try to stop his movements.

He yanked it away from her.

"Listen, I'm sorry I bumped in to you but I do not want a date, so quit asking." He demanded.

He wanted to just jump up on to the roof of the buildings just to escape her, but the girl kept pestering.

"Why? Why don't you want to?!" she asked, getting more upset that she wasn't getting her way.

"Listen kid, I already have some I love a whole lot in my life, and even if I didn't, you are way too young!" he explained.

"But I'm just as strong as her, that shouldn't matter!" She told her, her foot stomping the ground.

"I really doubt the- Wait, you know of her?" He asked her, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"Of course I do! Everyone does! She's the fiancée of the great and mighty hero of the world! What girl wouldn't know her?" she explained, seeming a bit annoyed at the thought of Hinata.

"Then why did you ask me on a date? It's really rude to ask someone that's already taken, ya know?" He crossed his arms in front of him, waiting for an answer.

"Because," She stopped, straightened her back, and flipped her hair out. "I'm better than her."

Naruto stared at her for a moment, processing the words she just said.

He chuckled at her before responding. "… I'm going home." He said while turning forward. He started walking but still the girl trailed behind.

"Wait, I-It's true! I'm about to be a Chunnin! I've already gone on more missions than she has, and I was ranked top of my graduating class!" she protested, trying to get his attention.

"That doesn't matter! Quit talking bad about her before I get really mad." He yelled, still not stopping to give her the time of day.

"B-but Naruto she didn't even notice what I did! How could she be that strong?!" She said, huffing for breath, trying to keep up with him.

He stopped for a second and turned his head back at her. "Notice what?"

"My mom… my mom saw her at her stand and gave her flowers. My mom thinks that you two look so nice together…So I confronted her on her way home."

' _That's where those flowers came from…'_ he thought before having her continue.

"Okay, but what did you mean by 'She didn't notice?' did you do something to her? Because I know that a fellow leaf comrade wouldn't ever hurt another, no matter how much they hated the other." Naruto scolded as he approached her. His blood was starting to boil, and he knew he wasn't going to like where this was going.

"N-Naruto, you're scaring me!" She confessed, backing up towards the brick wall behind her.

He knew he was probably overreacting, but he couldn't stand the thought of anyone hurting Hinata. Whether that was a scratch or something lighter, he didn't care. It made his heart hurt, and his teeth clench.

He lowered his voice, looking her in the eyes.

"What. Did. You. Do?" He growled out. At this moment he didn't care if she was just a kid, she was an enemy in his eyes, noses just inches from each other.

"I-I-I… I poisoned her f-flowers." She confessed, wincing as Naruto grabbed her shoulders.

He couldn't believe what he just heard. This girl had poisoned her?! His arms were shaking with anger and his voice was low and gritty.

"What did you do?!" he barked at her through his teeth. He knew his knuckles were turning white because of how angry he was, but that didn't matter, Hinata did.

"I-I-It's a poison that only my clan knows how to make… once the user exerts a certain amount of chakra, it makes it to where their chakra clogs up ad they can't use it at all. I-It even messes with their senses too." She mumbled

"Y-you did… you poisoned her! Why would you do that?! What were you planning would happen?!" He asked, letting go of her shoulders and punching the brick building behind her. He saw her jump , but didn't care.

"I-I wanted to fight her! I was going to confess my love for you a-and win against her in a fight to PROVE that I was better!" she argued. "I wanted you to acknowledge me and I wanted to make sure that… that nothing would stop me!"

Naruto was breathing heavy. His chest flared with every breath and his fists grew tighter by the second. This girl was so clueless about what she had done and it drove him mad! He wanted to punch her, kill her even. He moved his hand from the wall, and knew it was bleeding.

"You wanted me to acknowledge you? I don't even know your name, and you decide that poisoning and fighting the love of my life is going to change that?! Do you have ANY IDEA what you've done?!

"W-wha- I"

"Why wasn't I affected by the poison?! Why was it just her that this had to happen to, huh?!" He asked, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Y-you weren't affected because your chakra is so strong that it wouldn't have any effect… I would never hurt y-" She tried to defend, stretching an arm out to him, but he slapped it away.

"Hinata is on a mission right now! What if she gets in to something, meets someone along the way?! What if she's in trouble?! What if she dies and it's because of you?!" He exclaimed.

"I… I'm sorry I-I didn't know that s-she was-" She started crying, unable to form a sentence.

"I don't have time for this." Naruto told her as he ran off toward the North exit of the village, leaving the girl there alone in the snow.

Hinata didn't understand what had happened. She couldn't sense these people at all as they approached her. By now there was about seven and she could only guess that there were more hidden somewhere else. And once she activated her Byakugan, things only got worse. It felt like her body just gave out on her. She lost her footing on the tree, and fell towards the ground. She landed with a thud, breaking who knows what.

The two men jumped down next to her, picking her up by the arm.

"Well fella's it looks like we caught ourselves a little bunny." He chuckled, and what seemed live five more men appeared around him.

"Oh yeaaah, look at how nice her skin is, very pretty, isn't that right, Junti?" one nudged to the other.

' _W-why can't I move… why can't I do anything?!'_ she screamed in her head, trying to do anything to break free of their grasp. She wanted to leave, she wanted to fight, she wanted to do anything but this.

"Well… what should we do with her, boys?" The one said, who had Hinata by the arm.

"Take her back to base, see what the boss wants with her!" one said.

"Ooooh good idea, Hintoki." He said, pointing towards the underling.

He turned his face towards Hinata's.

"A good idea, indeed."


	4. Chapter 4

So first off I want to say sorry for taking longer with this chapter than the others. It was Christmas time and I just had so much stuff to do I couldn't find time to sit down and crank this out. But it's here now!

I also want to say sorry for the last chapter. For some reason the dashes I had in between scenes didn't appear on fanfiction but they appeared on Tumblr. It was very strange, but hopefully it doesn't happen again.

Anyway, this is the last chapter, so thank you all who have read, reviewed, and favorited!

"So you found her poking around where she shouldn't be, eh?" Their boss, Gorzo, asked. The rest of the rogues nodded their head back at him.

Hinata was on the floor, knocked out. Her breathing was steady and her eyes were shut tight. Her hair covered some of her face, and then it was splayed across the floor. Her under-layer of black clothing has small rips in it from her fall earlier.

"Did you all knock her out?" Gorzo asked again, rolling Hinata over to where she was no longer on her side, but on her back. His main henchmen, Junti, answered.

"She fell earlier and we are pretty sure she knocked herself out, not putting up any fight while getting here."

"I see, well…" Gorzo said, bending at the knees to observe her face better. His hand grabbed her chin, moving it slowly from one direction to the other.

"Good find, boys. She's quite the pretty one. Tie her up for now; I don't want her trying anything funny. When you're done let me know, I want my way with her first." He grunted as he stood up from next to her, letting her face roll back down to the left.

"Right, Boss!"

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' _Where is she, where is she?!'_ Naruto thought, bounding through the trees sporadically. He already had one clone way ahead of him, going straight to the village to ask who has seen Hinata. There were 4 others scattered throughout the route from Konoha to Hokubu, all of them using sage mode to scan the area. His heart was pumping faster than it ever has before.

He knew the odds of something bad happening were low, but that didn't matter. She could have used her Chakra to take a shortcut through the trees, or activated her byakugan, just to check her surroundings, or even so much as running was using chakra. She could be passed out freezing to death in the snow, or she could be perfectly fine. Either way, he needed to know.

There was a shudder through his body as one of his clones dispersed back to him, relaying that Hinata was already returning to Konoha around three hours ago, the mission successful.

"So she has to be here somewhere…" He mumbled. He was thankful that he could move faster than most every other ninja, making the distance between the two villages just hours apart, compared to the half day that others had to experience.

He could hear the tree limbs snapping underneath his feet from the force he was moving with. His eyes were scanning the area, searching for anything that would bring him some sort of clue about where Hinata was.

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Hinata's eyes opened slowly as her body started trying to move. Before she tried too hard, she took in her surroundings. It wasn't much, but there was a faint light coming from down the hall somewhere. She could tell the walls were just dirt by her body pinned against it. Her wrists were cuffed to the wall and her feet were chained down as well, but at least they were on the ground. There were bars in front of her, which seemed to gleam from the small candle light, making them appear wet and cold. She was near an exit, since the metal bars were affected by the weather outside, they wouldn't have gathered humidity otherwise.

Her thoughts were cut short by a voice.

"I don't care what you have to do to make it happen, I want that village raided for any supplies it has and burnt down. I want the land of fire to know who we are!" She heard someone say, there voice getting closer.

"Y-Yes sir! I'll make sure every last thing is done to perfection!" someone else responded, running off in a different direction.

' _The village… they don't mean…_ ' Hinata thought.

"I see that you're awake finally." A voice said from outside her cell.

Hinata didn't move her face, but shifted her eyes towards where the voice came from, which wasn't too hard, since she could hear him jingling keys to unlock her room.

"So girl, can you speak yet?" He asked, closing the cell behind him. Hinata didn't respond.

"… I guess not." He shrugged off with a chuckle. "No matter, I like my girls quiet."

Hinata mentally rolled her eyes as he approached her closer, grabbing her face like he did before, forcing her to look at him, but she still showed no signs of resisting, no matter how much she wanted to.

"So you're just my type." He said as he leaned towards her, trying to touch his mouth to hers.

 _ **CRACK**_

Hinata whipped her legs out from the wall, taking the cuffs and chains with her. She put one leg around the man's waist, and another around his neck, and twisted. The man fell to the ground, hard, before he could do anything about it.

Hinata pulled her body up by her arms and placed her feet against the wall, pushing the rest of her body forward, snapping her arms from their bindings. She landed on her hands; flipping backwards to where her body was facing the man she knocked to the ground.

He was on the ground in a daze, completely shocked at what had just happened to him. She walked over to him, taking the chain from one of her hands to wrap around his neck. He gasped for breath, but no one could hear him. After a few more seconds he collapsed from lack of oxygen.

' _There, that ought to hold him for a while.'_ She thought, grabbing the keys from his belt.

Hinata slowly creaked out from her cell, making sure that no sounds were made to alert anyone of her escape. Quietly she tiptoed down the hallway, trying to find an exit.

She didn't want to activate her Byakugan because of how last time went. She didn't know what had caused it or where it came from, but she knew that something had blocked her chakra points, similar to what she was trained to do. Luckily she was able to channel the chakra she had in her body from Hamura to clean out her channels. But she still didn't know if it was still in her body or not, and she didn't want to take the risk in an area like this.

She came across a door, and slowly put an ear against it. She could barely make out any words they were saying, but she could make out enough. "Tonight… that village… raid… kill if you have to" are all words that Hinata couldn't stand to hear.

' _I can't let them do that to the village! B-but I don't know how many people there are in there. I don't know if I could take them all… but I can't let them kill those villagers either!'_ she thought to herself.

Suddenly the room she was listening to fell silent, except for footsteps. Hinata maneuvered to where the door would swing in front of her so she wouldn't be seen. Thankfully, they didn't throw it open.

Seven men walked out from the room and walked forward, having this aura of business to them. Hinata knew that she couldn't take them, not without her byakugan.

' _It's now or never…'_ She thought as she closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and focused her chakra behind her eyes.

' _Byakugan.'_

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Naruto almost fell to the ground with relief when one of his clones disappeared, relaying the information that he had found Hinata's chakra. But that relief didn't last too long, because it confirmed the worst thing for him. Her chakra was underground in a series of tunnels, just like the ones he was sent to go investigate earlier.

' _I need to hurry.'_ He thought as he pivoted on his foot to completely change the direction he was going, snapping the branch he was on by the sheer force of him pushing off of it.

' _Just a bit further… hold on, Hinata, I'm almost there!'_

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' _Perfect.'_ Hinata thought as she activated her byakugan without a flaw. Slowly she moved towards the group of men. She could move very fast because the chains on her limbs would rattle. But for a slow as she was moving, she would never catch up to them. They were moving so much faster than she was, she had no choice but to give away she was here. She took a deep breath, made sure all the men were looking forward, and went for it.

She charged, and immediately they turned around to see her coming, grabbing whatever weapons they had at their side, but Hinata only had her fists. She couldn't do any trigram attacks because of how many people there were, she couldn't focus on just one. So she went with the alternative.

"Gentle Fist: Twin Lion Step!" She yelled, and blue chakra erupted from her fists. The first man she came in contact with threw a fist, but she ducked under, jabbing him in the stomach. She could see his chakra draining from the touch of her technique, and then she bend down to kick his legs out, causing him to topple down on top of someone else.

Another man tried to jump on top of her while she was on the ground, but she hopped on to her hands and flipped forward, nailing someone else in the chest with her feet, bringing them to the ground as well.

Someone else drew their sword out, aiming it at her. She could see someone else coming down the hallway with what looked like a spear. She dodged a slice from the sword wielder, kicking his hand up, knocking his sword out of his hand. She stepped forward, throwing an elbow into his stomach, then another step, throwing a fist to his chest. As he hit the ground on his knees, she put a hand on his head, jumping on to his shoulders, kicking off of him, and out in the air. The man she was aiming for had his spear ready, aimed at her in the air. She tucked her legs in, making her a smaller target. The man threw it, and Hinata kicked it down with her foot, completely shocking the man. She landed on the ground in front of him, pushing an uppercut in to his chin, throwing him backwards.

Two men came at her from behind, and she tried to jump out of the way, but one grabbed her leg, abruptly smacking her body on the ground, her head taking the worst of it.

"Ack!" She yelped as her head smacked the ground. It took a moment for her to come back to her senses, trying to stand up. She was panting, wondering why they weren't attacking her when she was down. She slowly stood up from the ground, propping herself up against the wall. There were three men left, all staring at her. They were all braced for an attack, but wouldn't make one.

' _They're playing the defense then…'_ She thought, observing their body language. Her head was pounding from its impact earlier.

" _I need to wrap this up.'_

She took a deep breath and activated her lion fist again, having gone away when she hit the ground. She went for the one on her left, aiming to hit him in the chest. He slid out of the way, avoiding her attack. Pivoting on her foot, she threw another punch in his direction. He threw up his arms in defense, but she ended her punch short and let the chain attached to her arm wrap around his arms. She grabbed the other end of it with her other hand, and drug him to the ground, dislocating his arms.

She let him go on the ground and turned towards her next opponent, who was already coming with his fists swinging. She ran towards him, pretending she was going to hit him, but instead of actually punching him, she slid in between his legs, popping up behind him. He tried to turn around to face her, but instead turned his face right in to her fist. His body hit against the wall as he slowly slid down.

She turned to face the last man there and she didn't know if it was because she hit or head, or because he was scared, but it looked like he was shaking. She ran towards him, fists ready. His arms were up near his chest, and he put up a leg for a kick. Hinata ducked out of the way, pushing his leg to the side, knocking him off balance. He fell into her fist, draining his chakra straight from his stomach. She then pivoted and threw her punch out behind her, slapping his body on top of the pile of everyone else.

"Now I… have to go warn… that village." She panted. Her head was pounding and her vision was blurry, but she kept her byakugan on just a few seconds more so she could find the exit.

Once she had it mapped to her mind, she deactivated her byakugan to save chakra. Slowly she moved through the hallway, having a hand along the wall as she went.

"Nata!"

She stopped for a moment, trying to decipher if she was just hearing things or not, but it sounded like someone said her name. She stopped moving and listened for it again.

"Hinata!" She heard more clearly, and she even knew the voice that came with it. She couldn't help but smile as she walked a bit faster towards his voice, yelling his in response.

"Naruto!" She yelled against the walls, hearing it echo off of them.

"H-Hinata!" He yelled from just a few yards away. She saw him turn the corner of the hallway, running straight towards her. She decided to just let him come to her, instead of fighting the concussion she knew she had.

His arms embraced her, taking all her weight off of her and on to him. She slowly wrapped her arms around his, as he hugged her tightly.

"Hinata I-I was so worried and as soon as I heard where you were I just couldn't… I couldn't not come here to find you, I just I-I love you so much!" He said into her neck. His hands massaged her back, slowly drifting in circles. He opened his eyes while she was still in his arms. They widened as he looked at the people who were scattered on the ground.

"Hinata… d-did you do this?" He asked, slowly drifting his arms away from her to examine the bodies on the ground.

"Yeah… they said they wanted to go and raid the village nearby, and I couldn't let them… do that." She said slowly.

"Whoa, Hinata, are you okay?" Naruto said, bringing his attention back to her. He noticed her head seemed to be rocking.

"Hinata, are you okay? Answer me." He said again, but instead of answering, she started falling.

"Whoa! Hinata!" He exclaimed, catching her in his arms. He stood there for a moment, stunned at what just happened.

He slowly maneuvered her on to his back, carrying her out of the underground base.

"At least you safe, that's all that matters."

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The last thing Hinata remembered was being underground with Naruto, but she had no idea what had happened to get her back to where she was now-the hospital back in Konoha.

Her eyes were barely open, but her ears were on full alert. She knew that Naruto and Kakashi were in the room with her, and they were speaking with each other.

"So they somehow got ahold of Hinata, but she took every one of them out." Naruto explained.

"I had Ino get more information out of them, and what that girl you told me about did to Hinata apparently took effect. One of their memories was Hinata activating her byakugan, and then just collapsing on herself After that, they drug her back to their base." Kakashi added on.

"And what are you going to do with that girl?" Naruto asked sternly.

"Well, she's already been revoked of ninja status, and the penalty of purposely harming a fellow leaf ninja is pretty steep, but since she is so young I don't know if she'll get the entire one, but the case has been brought to the attention of the other Kages as well as the elders of the village. And if you'll excuse me, I do have to go and talk to all of them about the new information we've gathered." Kakashi answered, turning around towards the door.

"Of course, and keep me updated!" Naruto told him as Kakashi opened the door to leave.

"I don't think I couldn't if I wanted to." Kakashi chuckled out, sliding the door closed behind him.

Naruto sighed, folding his arms in front of his chest as he started pacing through the room, not even noticing that Hinata was staring at him.

"What girl?" Hinata asked, causing Naruto to jump and break out of his pace.

"Wh-Hinata!" He exclaimed, rushing over to her side, grabbing her hand. He stared at her eyes.

"Do you need anything, does anything hurt, and are you okay?" He kept asking, causing Hinata to laugh.

"I feel better than last I remember!" She joked with him, caused an awkward laugh from Naruto.

"The girl… do you remember running in to a girl on your way home the other day? Short hair, young?" He asked.

"I couldn't forget if I wanted to." She scoffed out.

"Well… I ran in to her on my way home after I got back from my mission, and she told me… that she poisoned those flowers you got with a poison that would block your chakra flow once you were using enough of-" Naruto was explaining, but was cut off.

"So that's what it was! I went to activate my Byakugan and everything just locked up and I couldn't move, I didn't even know what was going on!" she added on, finally piecing together what happened.

"Yeah, that girl. I reported her actions to Kakashi and she's in holding right now for assaulting a fellow comrade."

"I see…" Hinata said quietly. She looked down at her arms and noticed her wrists were wrapped up, probably from the cuffs she had on rubbed them a bit raw.

"Hinata… how did you take out all of those guys?" Naruto asked. "Because the mission I was sent out on that I couldn't tell you about was to take out all of those men, because they were terrorizing a different village. But when I went there and found their base, it was completely abandoned, and the townspeople said they heard rumors of them moving to a different village. Kakashi didn't want me telling anyone about it because he didn't want anyone worrying or doing anything rash because of it."

"Oh! Well… on the way to their base, I kept flowing the chakra I have that's from Hamura through my body, burning off whatever was blocking my chakra points, which I guess was the poison that she put on those flowers." Hinata explained.

"Really?" Naruto asked, receiving a nod from Hinata. "Because I asked that girl why I wasn't affected and she told me that my chakra was just so strong that it couldn't have been affected, so it makes sense why that would work."

"So I used that chakra and healed myself while I continued to act like I was unconscious, letting the men lower the guards. They chained me up in a cell, and once I was alone with one of them, I took him out. Then I continued through the base and met up with the rest of the group and took them down as well. I did hit my head during that encounter, but other than that I didn't get many injuries from them." She explained, giving him a warm smile.

"You… took out eight people by yourself. That's just… amazing. You're always so gentle to me, I forget somedays that yore strong enough to do that, and even more." He told her.

"Well… somedays I forget too." She confessed with a laugh.

"I don't think I'm as strong as you somedays either. I'm not nearly as smart as you, and your taijutsu is way better than mine." He laughed, scratching the back of his head. Hinata smiled gently at him.

"I guess… that's why we have each other. We strengthen each other's weaknesses." She explained, gripping his hand firmly. Naruto looked at her for a second, before getting up.

"Can you move? I want to lie down with you." He said, shuffling on to the tiny hospital bed. Hinata went as far as she could without disrupting any of the equipment nearby.

Naruto turned on his side to face Hinata, placing an arm around her side. He sighed happily at her and she giggled at him.

"Why are you staring?" She asked.

"Because, I'm glad you're strong enough to handle my weaknesses." He said as he pulled her body in closer to hers, breathing in her hair. "And I love you so much for it."

Hinata couldn't help but love being snuggled in to his chest. It was warm, comforting, and sweet. The smell alone was enough to calm her down after anything. And right now, she didn't want to be anywhere else.

"I love you too."


End file.
